Just past the bank and barbershop and a few steps from the food court in the Tulane University student center, a small operation dedicated, in part, to helping local artists earn a fair wage opened its doors Monday.

The International New Orleans Exchange, or IN Exchange, which operates as part of a nonprofit of the same name, is dedicated to selling the work of low-income and underserved artists in the New Orleans area. The venture also sells wares made by international artists and craftsmen, said Erica Trani, who created the project.

Trani, who serves as the nonprofit's president, got the idea for the venture after observing a similar operation in Wisconsin, where crafts from Ecuador were sold to promote fair trade in that nation.

"I just thought that was so cool because you're actually giving people incentive to solve the social problem even if they don't really care about the social problem," Trani said. "I thought that was really, really effective."

Trani said she kept the idea of creating a similar venture in the back of her mind for years and after Hurricane Katrina decided that it could be a way to help artists struggling to make a living in the city.

"Directly after the storm, I thought this store needs to be for New Orleanians and artists who are underserved and it also needs to help the global craft makers I was inspired to assist."

Although New Orleans is filled with galleries and cooperatives that give artists a venue to display and sell their work, there are still not enough for the number of artists that live and work here, said Gene Meneray, director of the arts business program for the Arts Council of New Orleans. What's more, IN Exchange is unique in that it is both on a college campus and created by a student, Meneray said.

"Any opportunity for our artists to have another outlet -- -- especially an outlet on the Tulane campus -- -- that is not around traditional art hubs, is a good thing," Meneray said. "You certainly have a great audience there."

On its opening day, IN Exchange featured the work of five local artists and dozens of crafts from around the world, including jewelry and handmade notebooks. The local art pieces cost about $500 on average, Trani said. The most expensive piece now on display is $2,000. Trani said she hopes to sell $10,000 worth of merchandise in the first month.

Most of the local artwork is painting on canvas, although there is some jewelry, stained glass and paintings done on cabinet doors. One featured artist began painting only after the storm to express his experience.

"This is the first time he's selling his work. All of it revolves around his experience during the storm," said Trani, who added that the artist didn't evacuate before Katrina and had to be rescued. "He's selling it because he wants people to be inspired by it. He also has a ton of it in his home. He's like 'I need to get this art out of here.' "

About one quarter of the crafts in the store are made by local artists, the remainder are global pieces that support environmental and social causes, such as the Leakey Collection of jewelry produced and sold by the Maasai women of Kenya to support the country's economy after a drought. Although only 25 percent of the art sold is local, Trani said sales of the other merchandise, which is much cheaper than the local art, gives the store a cushion to pay local artists more.

"Our goal is to provide a formal space for low-income and underserved artists to display and sell their work and also to pay everyone a fair wage for their work," Trani said. "We're not trying to bargain people down, we're trying to pay them what they deserve for their work."

The nonprofit is splitting the proceeds on fine art, such as paintings and sculptures, 60 percent to the artist and 40 percent to the store. Earnings from other crafts are split 50/50. But Trani said there is room to negotiate with artists in need.

"We came up with a price that is enough to keep the store going and give the artists what is fair," Trani said.

Local artists who want to have their work sold in the store must meet several requirements to determine that they are underserved. They have to earn at or below 70 percent of the state's average annual household income. If an artist has a college degree, the program will consider if it was funded entirely by the artist's parents, in which case he wouldn't be considered underserved. Artists also have to have lived in New Orleans for five years, but consideration will be given to displaced artists.

The IN Exchange store reflects a growing trend among nonprofits. Increasingly, nonprofits are adding business-like operations to supplement smaller pools of donation money, a practice known as social enterprising.

"What distinguishes a social entrepreneurship venture is a concern that all of the stakeholders in the venture are treated appropriately," said John Elstrott, director of the Levy-Rosenblum Institute for Entrepreneurship at Tulane and an adviser for Trani on the project. "In the case of the nonprofit, that would be the target group served, the environment or the community."

"We felt like it was important to have another outlet for artists in New Orleans," Elstrott said. "The store is not only to help the artists but to teach fair trade to the students at Tulane."

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Jaquetta White can be reached at jwhite@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3494.